Bull’s Head from La Luna di Carta

I’ve recently completed a full rework of this design, which emerged during a memorable time spent in Italy in 1987. Exhausted after helping to organise the 20th anniversary BOS convention in London, I was sorely in need of a holiday, and the prospect of time with origami pals in Padua proved irresistible. Also present at the meeting were famous names from Japan, including Mr and Mrs Momotani, Masahiro Chatani, and Tomoko Fuse. I’d admired Tomoko’s work for some years already, and had even written her a fan letter, and we met for the first time in Padua. Since then we’ve become very good friends.

The event was the idea of CDO President Luisa Canovi and local resident Humi Huzita, and we were invited to attend a combined convention and exhibition, making large scale origami designs before they were installed in situ.

La Luna di Carta exhibition was held at an interesting space in Padua. The Cattedrale ex Macello, a former abattoir, still carried the clues of its former use: there were rows of hooks for the meat, and many drains remained in the floor for the blood from the meat. Now it had been completely repurposed for its new function as an exhibition hall and cultural centre.

On the facade of the the building there was a sculpture of a bull’s head, and I accepted the challenge to make an origami replica for the wall inside. After a few sketches on the back of an envelope, this Bull’s Head appeared.

But the method of folding was haphazard and clumsy, so recently I’ve worked hard to revise and tidy up the design, which is now much more organised.

Here are the new diagrams, never previously published.

Here are a few more souvenirs of the event